Pink Night special for Ports manager

STOCKTON - Steve and Becki Scarsone put the kids to bed and spent a sleepless night together in their Phoenix home the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - Steve and Becki Scarsone put the kids to bed and spent a sleepless night together in their Phoenix home the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

They considered the worst, hoped for the best and gathered their emotions so, when the sun came up, they could calmly present the facts to their children.

"We wanted to have answers for them," said Steve Scarsone, a former big leaguer in his first season as manager of the Ports. "We didn't want to say, 'Mom has cancer, and we don't know what's next.' We wanted to say, 'We're going to fight this thing, and this is what we're going to do.' "

Scarsone shared his family's story this week as the Ports prepared to host Pink Night tonight at Stockton Ballpark, an event aimed at promoting breast cancer awareness and early detection.

The Ports will hold a home run-a-thon featuring Oakland Athletics legend Rickey Henderson beginning at 5:30 p.m., and players will wear commemorative pink jerseys when they play the San Jose Giants at 7:05. The jerseys will be auctioned off to raise money for breast cancer research.

The Ports will recognize breast cancer survivors during the game, provide women an opportunity to have a mammogram and donate $1 from every ticket sold to St. Joseph's Medical Center's Breast Health Services.

"We're pleased that we're able to help the cause, and the fact that this year it strikes home with Steve makes it that much more special," Ports president and general manager Pat Filippone said. "They say everybody knows somebody who's been affected by breast cancer, and it really hammers that home when our manager is dealing with it in his personal life."

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 191,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and nearly 41,000 died of breast cancer in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

"Everybody has a mom, a sister, a wife, a daughter, a girlfriend," Scarsone said. "It doesn't take very long to reach out into your world to find women who have been affected by this."

Scarsone said his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. She had a double mastectomy with reconstruction in February and endured four rounds of chemotherapy treatment. She was declared cancer free following her last chemotherapy treatment June 3.

Scarsone said early detection was critical.

"She found it early because she made it a regular practice to check herself," Scarsone said. "The emphasis of our story is to keep this in mind and keep an eye on yourselves, keep an eye on your moms, your daughters, your nieces, and just be aware so you can catch it early."

Scarsone went home to be with his wife during her last two chemotherapy treatments. While he was away, his players sent flowers to his wife. The card was signed, "Your team."

Ports hitting coach Tim Garland said Scarsone never let his wife's condition affect the way he managed the team.

"I can't imagine what he's going through mentally when he goes in his office and shuts the door," Garland said. "All I know is when he comes here to do his job, he does his job."

Pitcher Shawn Haviland said the players respect and admire Scarsone for all he has endured while overseeing a second-half turnaround that has put the Ports in the California League playoff race.

"It shows you how strong of a guy he is," Haviland said. "You know how badly he wants to be at home right now, but he's also giving us 100 percent of himself as well."

Scarsone said his wife's illness helped him keep things in perspective when the Ports were losing earlier in the season.

"Baseball is a game with players who are trying to learn and get better. It's not a life-or-death situation," Scarsone said.

"My wife's cancer was a life-or-death situation. If she can get up every morning with a smile on her face after going through chemo treatments, then we can get up in the morning with a smile on our faces, too."